Djokovic crashes out in Barcelona, Nishikori retires

Reuters: Former world number one, Novak Djokovic, suffered a surprise second-round exit from the Barcelona Open yesterday, when the Serb was beaten 6-2 1-6 6-3 by world number 140, Martin Kližan.

Djokovic, who received a bye in the opening round, has not reached the last eight of a tournament since last year’s Wimbledon and has struggled with a long-term elbow injury.

The 30-year-old lost to Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the last 16 of the Monte-Carlo Masters last week, and looked far from his best in what was his second career appearance in Barcelona.

Kližan claimed the first set in just 32 minutes before Djokovic broke the Slovakian’s serve twice to take the second.

Kližan snatched a crucial break in the eighth game of a tense final set and went on to claim his first career victory over Djokovic in five meetings.

Kei Nishikori retired during his opening match against Spain’s Guillermo García-López after experiencing pain in his right wrist.

The 28-year-old, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the Monte-Carlo Masters final on 22 April, withdrew after losing the first set 6-3.

“My expectations grew in Monte Carlo, despite losing to Nadal,” Nishikori told reporters. “However, I started feeling discomfort again during the first set and I did not want to take any risks.”

The Japanese missed last year’s US Open, and the Australian Open at the start of 2018 after injuring the same wrist in August 2017.

Second seed, Grigor Dimitrov eased past Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2 6-1 to book a place in the last 16.